


it's our time (to make a move)

by butterflysky



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics)
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Fluff, Getting Together, Good Bro Dick Grayson, M/M, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Pining, Praise Kink, Soft Jason Todd, like a tiny bit, look this is just pure indulgent soft fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26635558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflysky/pseuds/butterflysky
Summary: Jason has a problem.That problem is the smart, capable, beautiful redhead he’s currently living with.(Jason has a huge crush on Roy and doesn't know how to handle it. Dick helps him work up the courage to do something. Things might work out.)
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Roy Harper/Jason Todd
Comments: 17
Kudos: 209





	it's our time (to make a move)

Jason has a problem. 

That problem is the smart, capable, _beautiful_ redhead he’s currently living with. 

It started out innocently enough, with Jason thinking Roy’s hands looked so elegant when they were fiddling with a new arrow prototype - and then he’d caught himself, wrinkled his nose, thought _elegant?_ and moved on. 

Then Roy had saved him from a stray bullet in a fight, and Jason had spent a bit too long gazing at him afterwards, realising he’d be dead all over again if it wasn’t for Roy’s quick thinking. 

“You okay, Jaybird?” Roy had asked, when he’d saw him looking.

Jason had cleared his throat and looked away. “Yeah.”

And then they’d just been casually relaxing on the sofa, watching something mindless on TV while they waited for their takeout, and Jason had realised he’d been watching Roy sip his soda for way too long - tracking the bob of his throat, the part of his lips when he pulled the bottle away, the peek of a pink tongue when he licked his lips. 

_Fuck,_ Jason had thought to himself, as realisation trickled through him. 

Jason spends a week going out of his way to avoid looking at Roy, until Roy confronts him with his face all twisted up in indignation and hurt, asking what’s going on, and Jason has to say, “Just my usual bullshit, not you,” and hope his blush isn’t visible. 

He’s not used to this. _Crushes._ He hasn’t had anything serious since he came back, and he has no idea what the hell to do. 

Keeping quiet seems like the best plan, the best way to not fuck up their entire friendship and partnership. He can’t imagine someone like Roy would want to date someone like him - Roy, who’s done so many amazing things, while all Jason’s done is soak his hands in blood. 

So Jason does his very best to ignore the little flutters in his stomach every time Roy stumbles bleary eyed from his bedroom first thing in the morning, shirtless and rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand. He ignores the weird buzzing in his chest when Roy laughs at one of his dumb jokes during a mission. He ignores the heat in his cheeks when Roy touches his shoulder, his arm, his hand when they both reached for the same takeout carton at the same time. 

Jason thinks he’s being very smooth, really. But then one morning Roy squints and points a spatula at him and says, “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

“No,” Jason says automatically. 

Roy continues to scrutinize him, and Jason’s face starts to go hot under the steady gaze. 

“You’re going to burn that,” Jason says, kind of desperately, and Roy looks down at the raw bacon in the pan and frowns. 

“Ja—”

“I’m headed out, need anything?” Jason interrupts, grabbing for where he’d ditched his jacket over the arm of the sofa the night before. 

“What the hell, I’m cooking,” Roy says indignantly, and Jason holds his jacket so hard the leather makes an alarming noise. 

“Need a smoke,” Jason says, even though he was trying to quit again, and made for the door before Roy could answer. 

He sits on the low brick wall outside their safe house with his cheeks in his hands and tries to banish the feelings in his chest. 

_Roy’s my partner_. _Roy’s my_ friend. _I will_ not _fuck this up._

Jason repeats it like a mantra until he feels relatively normal again, then heads back up. Roy gives him a long, suspicious look that Jason feels on every inch of his skin. 

He realises too late that he doesn’t smell like smoke. 

Trouble in Gotham drags Jason back into the fray, and he waves Roy’s offers of help away and tells him to keep working on their case while he’s gone. 

It’s another Arkham breakout, and Jason throws himself into the chaos to forget the churning in his stomach. 

When they’re done and back in the cave, Dick puts a hand on his shoulder and starts talking about some brotherly bonding bullshit he’s got planned, and Jason half listens while he checks his guns. 

“—invite Roy too,” Dick is saying, and Jason actually jumps. 

“Jay?” Dick asks, surprised, hand hovering above his shoulder. 

Jason wishes he hadn’t taken his helmet off. “What?” he snaps, sounding more irritable than he actually is. He’s not annoyed, he’s just… _panicked,_ because he still has no idea how to deal with any of this, and he can’t think of anything worse than Dick finding out what’s going through his head. 

“I was saying you should invite Roy next weekend,” Dick says slowly. 

Jason rolls his eyes. “Why would either of us want to…” he trails off at the look forming on Dick’s face. “Yeah, whatever.” He needs to make his escape now, before Dick guilts him into a movie night or something. 

“You okay?” Dick asks, and Jason flinches again. 

“I’m _fine,_ ” he says, which even he knows isn’t very convincing. 

“You and Roy okay?” Dick asks, and Jason glares at him. 

“What? Yeah. Why wouldn’t we be?” Wait, _you and Roy?_

“You just panicked when I said his name,” Dick points out. 

Jason’s glad they’re off to one side of the cave, while Tim and Damian bicker somewhere behind them and Bruce types at the Batcomputer with a single-minded focus with Alfred over his shoulder. Steph and Cass vanished somewhere upstairs as soon as they got in. 

“I did not _panic,_ ” Jason insists. “I just wasn’t listening.”

Dick looks thoroughly unconvinced. “You know you can tell me, little wi-”

“Oh my god shut up,” Jason groans. “It’s fine. We’re fine. Roy is fine. I’m fine.”

“You’re fine,” Dick echoes, then a mischievous look flits over his face and Jason already wants to punch him for whatever the next thing out of his mouth is going to be. “Wait, are you and Roy—”

“ _No,_ ” Jason says, and now he is definitely, visibly panicked. 

“But you want to be,” Dick surmises, and Jason curses him and the stupid _world’s greatest detective_ who raised him. “You’re blushing.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Jason warns. 

“I can help,” Dick protests, and Jason jabs a finger at him and shakes his head. 

“No. No way. This isn’t happening. I’m leaving.”

“It’s what big brothers do,” Dick exclaims, and Jason considers how hard he’d have to hit Dick to wipe this conversation from his memory completely. 

He also considers asking _when have you given a shit about being my big brother,_ but it’s more a reflex than anything else. He hasn’t been that angry for a long time. “No.”

“At least come get a coffee with me so we can talk about it,” Dick says mournfully. 

“What is there to _talk about,_ ” Jason groans, but Dick has already crowded him towards the changing rooms. 

“Put your civvies on, little wing, we’re doing this.”

They go to a diner Dick claims to have the best coffee in the city, and Jason sits opposite and glowers at him as he muses over the menu. 

When the waitress takes their order, Jason realises _coffee_ has morphed into _breakfast_ without him noticing. 

“So,” Dick says, and Jason already wants to sink through the leather seat below him and disappear. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Jason says, and glares at the sugar dispenser. “And that’s the way it’s gonna stay, okay?”

Dick stares at him. “Why?”

“Because I’m not—I don’t want to… _ruin_ things,” Jason mutters, and it’s kind of excruciating talking about this but in a weird way it feels kind of freeing. 

“Oh, little wing,” Dick sighs, and Jason twitches and glares at him. “You’re not going to ruin anything. You deserve good things, okay?”

Jason winces and looks away. “Whatever.”

“You do,” Dick repeats, then turns a dazzling smile on the waitress when she returns with their order. 

Jason takes the opportunity to shove his eggs into his mouth and avoid answering. 

“Jay,” Dick says seriously. “You don’t need to be worried about ruining anything, alright?”

“Easy for you to say, Goldie,” he drawls, and Dick frowns at him.

“I’m serious,” Dick says. “Roy’s your best friend.” 

“And that’s the problem,” Jason says suddenly, still not quite able to meet Dick’s eyes. “I can’t fuck that up.”

Dick studies him silently, then says, “You won’t. You’ve been working together, living together, spending _all your time together_ for how long now?”

Jason looks up at him. “That’s different.”

“Yes, but it’s a good foundation.” Dick cuts into his waffles and Jason tries not to wince at the amount of sugar he’s stuffing into his mouth. “So, how do we proceed.” Dick says, words muffled by the waffles. 

“ _We?_ ” Jason repeats. “ _We_ aren’t doing shit. _I’m_ going to wait for this to go away.”

Dick shakes his head. “No way.”

“It’s just easier that way,” Jason insists. 

“When do you do things the easy way, little wing?”

Jason rolls his eyes. 

“Come on,” Dick says quietly. “Let yourself have this, okay?”

Jason glances up at him quickly. “I…I can _try._ But...” _He won’t like me that way_ , he wants to say, but it sounds so juvenile he can’t bring himself to. 

“Good,” Dick says, and turns a bright smile on him. “Alright, so I’ll confess I don’t know much about Roy’s dating habits, but I’m guessing you do?”

Jason shrugs awkwardly. “I saw him with Kori,” he hesitates, but Dick doesn’t blink. “Uh, and that was. Casual.” Now that he thinks of it, he’d always felt weird whenever he saw them together, but he’d put that down to PDA being generally gross. Was that _jealousy?_

“And do _you_ want something casual?” Dick asks gently, and Jason hesitates. _Does_ he? Can he imagine having Roy without letting his stupid little heart get involved?

“No,” he realises, and knows when he looks back at Dick that he must look terrified. 

“That’s okay,” Dick says quickly. “That’s fine.”

“No it’s not,” Jason says, starting to panic again. “I’ve never done this before!”

“Everyone starts somewhere,” Dick says reasonably, and Jason wants to punch him again. “Okay, so why don’t you just take him out somewhere nice? Make an evening of it. Then if it feels right, you’ll know what to say.”

“That’s totally unhelpful,” Jason says, then gets hit with yet another realisation. “We’ve already been to Paris,” he mutters, unable to make eye contact. 

Dick _laughs,_ the bastard. “Paris, little wing? Wow.”

Jason puts his head in his hands, and when he feels how hot his skin is, he knows he must be the same colour as his helmet. “It wasn’t like that.”

“But it can be _like that_ this time.”

“I’m not going back to Paris.”

“Why not try something simpler,” Dick says, and he has the nerve to sound exasperated. “Somewhere you both like.”

“The only places we ever go together are abandoned warehouses to break up arms deals,” Jason snaps. 

“This is about _changing that,_ ” Dick says, rolling his eyes. “Fancy restaurant?”

Jason wrinkles his nose. “We just order in. Or cook.”

“Cook?” Dick repeats, jumping on that. “Perfect. Cook something, keep it relaxed.”

Jason purses his lips. Sure, that could work. Maybe. If he doesn’t fuck it all up, which he will. 

But he cooks all the time, right? So if he loses his nerve, he can just act like nothing is different. 

“Okay,” Jason says. He shuts his eyes. “Okay _fine._ I’ll…okay.”

“Yes!” Dick says, sickeningly happy about it. “You’ll be fine, Jay. It’s going to be great.”

Jason scowls at him, but Dick’s good mood doesn’t evaporate, so he must be getting rusty. 

“Whatever,” Jason says. 

Dick smiles at him, then says, “Thanks, little wing.”

“You gave _me_ the advice,” Jason says, confused, but Dick just shakes his head and takes the check. 

Jason detours to the grocery store, feeling vaguely sick, and picks up what he needs to cook that night. Nothing too impressive, for when he inevitably loses his nerve and has to play it cool. 

He gets what he needs for a simple Thai dish, one he’s perfected, so there’s no way this can go wrong. Or, at least, not in the culinary sense. 

He’s so nervous when he checks out the cashier peers at him and asks if he’s okay. 

Back at the safe house, Jason starts putting his ingredients away and is dismayed to see his hands are shaking. He’s so pathetic. 

“ _There_ you are,” Roy says from behind him, and he jumps. “I was thinking the Bats were going to keep you this time.”

“Went for breakfast with Dick,” Jason says, composing himself. “He wants us to go to some stupid thing with him and the others this weekend.”

“I’ll check our schedule,” Roy says dryly, and Jason’s face goes hot at _our._

“Yeah,” he says dumbly, then looks away and busies himself straightening the pots and pans in the cupboard. 

Roy sighs behind him and Jason goes still.

“Are you ever going to tell me what’s going on with you lately?” Roy asks. When Jason brings himself to turn around, Roy has his arms folded, looking unimpressed. 

“Nothing,” Jason lies. Not yet. 

“You’ve been worried about something,” Roy says accusingly. “I can tell.”

Jason makes a noise that sounds weirdly high pitched even to him. “I haven’t.”

Roy rounds their little kitchen table so he can stand in front of him, and Jason’s not usually one to run away, but he’s really considering it then. 

“Bullshit,” Roy says, and he actually looks _angry._ “You’ve been off with me for weeks, Jason.”

Jason flinches, then looks away, at the half-filled bag of groceries still on the counter. He reaches for it but Roy tries to intercept him, probably to stop him avoiding the conversation like he’d been planning, and the outcome is the bag topples onto the floor. 

“Shit,” Jason blurts, crouching to tidy up at the same moment Roy does. 

Jason doesn’t look at him, refusing to, even when Roy sighs audibly again. 

“Jaybird,” he says quietly. “This isn’t like you. Just talk to me.”

Jason does look up then, and Roy’s looking back at him steadily, and Jason swallows heavily. “I was going to cook dinner,” Jason says, and Roy looks taken aback. 

“Okay,” he says slowly. “Anything…anything else?”

“I…” the words are lodged in his throat, and now’s not the right time, this isn’t the right _way_ to do this, but Roy’s so close and he looks so worried, and it’d be so easy to just…

Jason darts forward and presses his mouth against Roy’s, immediately regrets it, jolts backwards but is stopped by a hand in his shirt. 

“Jason,” Roy whispers, looking stunned. 

Jason stares at him, terrified, but then Roy _smiles._

_“That’s_ what you’ve been worried about?” he asks. The hand in the shirt goes to his cheek and suddenly Jason can’t breathe. “Jaybird…”

“What?” Jason whispers, still blinking stupidly, and Roy pulls him in with the hand on his cheek and _kisses him._

Jason forgets the food on the floor, forgets that they’re kneeling on the hard tile, forgets that he was supposed to make an evening of this and say something special. All the thoughts vanish with every brush of Roy’s lips, the curl of those elegant fingers in his hair, the faint rasp of stubble on his cheek. 

Jason shuts his eyes and kisses back, loses himself in the softness, the warmth, the scent of Roy’s shampoo and the feel of his muscles shifting beneath the palm Jason presses to his chest. 

When Roy pulls away, Jason follows him, and Roy laughs a little, gently puts a hand on his shoulder so Roy can look at him. 

“We should talk,” Roy says, and laughs again when Jason frowns. 

“I was gonna try,” Jason mumbles, and Roy’s expression turns quizzical. Jason sighs. “I was going to cook and we were going to eat together and then I was going to say something.” 

Roy’s hand goes back to his cheek and Jason leans into it. 

“What were you going to say?” Roy breathes, and Jason’s eyes flutter shut. He opens them again to Roy looking at him fondly. 

“I don’t know,” he admits. “I was going to improvise.”

Roy grins at him, then stands, pulling Jason up with him. 

“Maybe we can talk tomorrow,” Roy says thoughtfully, and Jason's nod is enthusiastic.

Roy tugs him over to the couch, nudges him to sit down, then _slides into his lap._

“We’re going as far as you want to,” Roy assures him at the look on his face, then ducks in to kiss him senseless, pressing him back against the cushions. Roy’s tongue slides across his bottom lip, and when he gasps, Roy pulls his lip into his mouth and sucks gently and it’s _so good_. Then his tongue is sweeping into Jason’s mouth and Jason’s fairly sure he’s going to melt or explode or maybe both.

“God,” Roy gasps when he pulls away, and Jason tries to follow him _again._ “I’ve wanted this for _so long,_ Jaybird.”

Jason gapes at him, and Roy laughs. 

“We’re idiots,” Roy says, and Jason nods his agreement. “We could have been doing this for ages.”

“Let’s, uh, make up for lost time,” Jason tries, and is rewarded when Roy laughs again and leans back in. 

They make out lazily for so long Jason loses track of time. At some point he gets brave enough to move his hands from Roy’s hips, trace his fingers up his back, gratified by the little shudder he feels in response. It’s _nice_ to know Roy’s feeling as much as he is. 

They kiss and kiss and kiss until Jason’s mouth is tingling, his stomach is jumping, his breath is coming fast. Roy breaks away to just look at him, soft and warm and fond, and Jason can hardly stand it so he pushes his face into Roy’s neck to catch his breath. 

Roy strokes his hair. “Can’t believe you were nervous about this,” he huffs. 

Jason mumbles into his neck, “Wasn’t sure you wanted this.”

Roy lightly tugs him back so he can meet Jason’s eyes again, and Jason knows his face is on fire under the attention, but he bravely withstands it anyway. 

“Of course I want this,” Roy whispers, serious, and Jason shivers all over. “You’re beautiful.” He leans in and kisses Jason on the forehead, and now the trembling won’t stop. “And smart. And _good,_ and don’t even argue with me on that, Jaybird. And you’re funny and sweet and my best friend.” 

Jason is blinking rapidly, face so hot he's dizzy. “You’re—uh—you…” He can’t put it into words, so he just surges up to kiss him again. 

This time it’s gentler, slower. Roy’s fingers keep on stroking through his hair and Jason keeps on shivering, pulling Roy closer against him, gasping into his mouth. 

When they part again, Roy keeps on looking at him fondly, then says, “You know I don’t want this to be a one time thing, right?”

Jason could _cry_ with relief. “Me neither,” he blurts, and Roy’s smile grows. “But I’ve never—done this before,” he says. Then clarifies, “Dating. I’ve never dated anyone.”

“Hmm,” Roy says, mock thoughtfully. “They say you never forget your first.” The look on his face is positively _wicked,_ and Jason knows he’s bright red again, but he can’t bring himself to care when Roy laughs and reels him back in by his shirtfront for another kiss.

Before Roy takes his brain offline for the rest of the day, Jason makes a mental note to send Dick a fruit basket. 

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Renegades by VHS
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!! Comments + kudos are v much appreciated <333


End file.
